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Miguel Marquez: “No Veteran Left Behind”

As an Outreach Specialist for Operation Sacred Trust, Miguel Marquez meets many Veterans during difficult moments in their lives.

“More than one Veteran has talked about having it all one day and then finding himself living on the streets, a car, storage unit, bus stop, train station or abandoned building the next, having lost everything.”

Miguel is part of Operation Sacred Trust, OST, an initiative funded through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. OST helps provide housing stability for homeless and at-risk Veteran families in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The program is a collaborative effort of leading nonprofit community agencies, including Carrfour Supportive Housing, PAIRS Foundation, Henderson Behavioral Health, and Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida.

Operation Sacred Trust serves more than 1,000 low-income Veterans and family members each year.

FatherhoodChannel.com is pleased to profile the OST professionals on the frontline of ending homelessness for America’s Veterans.

Miguel Marquez
Program/Outreach Support
Operation Sacred Trust

What inspires you to serve Veterans?

What inspires me to serve Veterans is the amount of respect these men and women have for others. Being able to serve these brave individuals has certainly been a blessing. No one deserves more respect than those who have given years of their lives to serve our country.

What’s your hope for the impact your work has on the lives of the Veterans you serve?

As a team, we work with each Veteran to end homelessness in their life and help make sure they have the best chance of never having to become homeless again. I hope that, as a result of OST and our community partners, all the Veterans we serve can have a place they call home, a place of their own from which they can rebuild their lives. OST is an organization that truly cares about each and every Veteran; I’m so happy to be a part of OST.

Beyond helping this formerly homeless Veteran and his son move into affordable housing, finding resources to help them buy shoes and supplies for the youngster to attend school and participate in youth sports activities was also important to helping the family begin rebuilding their life.

What is a story/experience serving a Veteran family that stands out for you?

Each story a Veteran has shared remains etched in my heart and mind. Many Veterans have told me they have been through everything in the military, from near death experiences to seeing someone killed in front of their eyes. Whether they served in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else, the emotions they express when they tell their stories feel just as real today as when they went through the experience. Many stories I’ve heard also came from outside the war zone, about the struggles they’ve faced at home or work. More than one Veteran has talked about having it all one day and then finding himself living on the streets, a car, storage unit, bus stop, train station or abandoned building the next, having lost everything.

What connection do you have to the military or Veteran or homeless community?

I have two close friends serving in the Marines. I admire their courage, sacrifice, and have the utmost respect for them as they protect our country. OST has been my way of serving, by reaching out to and helping care for our Veterans during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

What’s one of the lessons you’ve learned from your work serving Veterans?

A lesson I learned this year has definitely been selflessness. Putting Veterans first and doing everything possible to serve them — as they’ve served us — has been and remains our number one goal. No Veteran left behind!